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Open Government
Also known as Transparent Background * Pennsylvania's open records laws are some of the worst. Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Surveillance of citizens has increased to dramatic levels. Governments are watching more aspects of citizens' lives. The private sector is increasing surveillance as well. PA's Auditor General can't do audits of PA Legislatur's slush funds * blog mention from April 2006. * Planks for open government from Mark Rauterkus * Diamond pitches transparent government * Open goverment-plank-Paul Ron Paul, September 2007, Sunshine Rule Discussions and efforts to increase intelligence are welcomed, given my high-tech, watchdog background. * To involve extensive and constant surveillance without accountability assurances is wrongheaded. * Data overload kills twice: First, the efforts to curb terror get bogged down. Second, the spy-like watching hurts the citizens, freedoms and behaviors. * My background allows me to present different approaches to problems (such as the threat of terrorism) along with the need of critical examinations. Leaders need to be aware of effective applications of our safety. Insights * Secrecy or Transparency? from Democracy Rising PA * A-Space blends CIA and technology Details York PA, editorial: Open Pa. business to us all, March 2007 Pennsylvania state government is dealing with several traumas at once and that's a good thing. The Legislature is (hopefully) in the throes of long-needed reform, and the administration of Gov. Ed Rendell is dealing with more than its share of internal worries, not the least being the Department of Transportation's PennDOT performance in a big storm. But it's time for both branches to face up to, and deal with, another major worry: Pennsylvania has one of the worst open records laws in the nation. That essentially means that from local government up to the statehouse you, the taxpayer, have little leverage to hold your elected officials accountable. It's a mindset that elected and appointed officials fall prey to when they take on the people's business: It's none of the people's business. That has to change. Transparency in government is an essential of democracy. Pennsylvania's Right to Know law was last amended in 2002. But the changes created as many new obstacles to your knowing what your government is doing in your name -- and with your money -- as it did in changing procedures. The Legislature managed to rectify its enormous error in the July 2005 pay-raise vote. This year it has the opportunity to further open government to the people who own it -- you. For newspapers and other advocates of government transparency, next week (mid-March, 2007) is Sunshine Week. We'll be stressing the need for open government in editorials, opinion articles and cartoons. In Pennsylvania, if you want information on why or how your government did something, the burden is on you to prove such information is public. That's antithetical to the very idea of Open Government, and the clear opposite of what a working democracy is supposed to provide. Pennsylvanians have changed the Legislature dramatically. Now it's time to make all state government more responsive to everyone.